S. Daniel Abraham (with Ewa)
March 5, 2001 S. Daniel Abraham's sale of Slim Fast Foods to Unilever last year rocketed him onto the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. He had also recently sold his interest in the pharmaceutical company Thompson Medical for a reported profit of $200 million. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.8 billion. A long-time Democratic giver, Abraham has spent most of his political and charitable energies in the last decade supporting Israel and the troubled Middle East peace process. He has helped fund Birthright Israel, a program which sponsors tours of Israel for young American Jews, and co-founded the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, a group based in Washington that has supported the Oslo peace accords. As a World War II veteran, Abraham has said he knows the horrors of war and is committed to preventing future conflicts. The Center, often with Abraham leading the way, has sponsored numerous congressional fact-finding missions to the region, working to forge relationships between American politicians, Israeli leaders, and their Arab counterparts. Abraham forged himself a private role in America's Middle East diplomacy, meeting repeatedly with Palestinian leaders, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Shimon Peres, the late King Hussein of Jordan, and former President Bill Clinton. Abraham also helped fund a tunnel alongside Jerusalem's Western Wall, which became a flash point between Palestinians and Israelis in 1996. In the wake of bloody clashes between the two sides, Abraham told the Associated Press that the tunnel could have been handled differently. "I think we could have done better had there been sensitivity towards the Muslims," Abraham said. -- Michael Scherer | | |
